The ever-awesome Laura Roeder threw a very fun Meetup last evening at Corkbar in Downtown Los Angeles. At one point, she and I stepped outside, where I grilled her with tough questions about her Creating Fame program, as well as her new Facebook Fame e-book:

UPDATE: You can save an additional 30% off HostGator’s already-low rates by entering this coupon code at checkout: GATOR30. Offer expires at the end of August!

For several years, my websites were hosted by a popular and heavily advertised web hosting service (which shall remain nameless).

At first, I didn’t notice too many problems. The difficulties began when I started my WordPress blogs — VoiceoverNinja.com, and the one you’re reading now.
When a website is a critical part of your business, it’s a disaster when it suddenly goes offline. It’s like owning a store that suddenly disappears. Folks are trying to get in, but they can’t. The “store” isn’t there.

In business, one of your primary challenges is getting customers in through the door. This is true with a brick-and-mortar establishment, and maybe even more so in the online world.

Far too often, I’d receive puzzled emails from readers wondering why my site was offline. Sometimes the outage would last for a few minutes, in other cases it would take hours before it was back up again.

Each time, the hosting company would acknowledge the problem, but could say nothing more than that they were “working on it.”

I finally decided I’d had enough, and searched for a better solution for my hosting needs. Several people I respect in the online community recommended HostGator. They have proven to be an excellent web host in many respects.

HostGator provides outstanding value. You can sign up for their “Hatchling” plan for as low as $3.96 per month — this gives you unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth for a single domain.

If you own multiple domains like I do, you’ll want their “Baby” plan, which you can get for as little as $6.36 a month. “Baby” also gives you unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth, plusyou can host an unlimited number of domains.

HostGator’s customer service is top-notch, and their reps are available by phone or live chat 24/7/365. They have a large number of tutorials for their customers on every aspect of hosting, installing WordPress, etc.

Most crucially, HostGator has a 99.9% uptime guarantee — and from what I can tell, they are an extremely reliable host in this regard. I switched all of my sites to HostGator in January 2011, and I’ve been very pleased with them.

Thanks to all who attended & participated in our live Webinar all about the negativity that creative people often experience from others, and what to do about it. If you missed it, or want to re-experience it, here’s the replay: (53 minutes)

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As a professional voiceover artist, you’d think I’d have been more up-to-speed on the audiobook market. I listen to spoken audio all the time — the majority of it coming from an extensive collection of tapes and CDs which I’ve manually converted for listening on my iPod. I recently discovered Audible.com — and I’ve stepped [...]

(Don’t worry — this hasn’t suddenly become a culinary blog!) Last week I attended a great live Webinar by Laura Roeder. Actually, I attended twice — the first session was so popular, she gave an encore presentation of it. In her Webinar, Laura talked about the importance of having systems in place for your business. [...]

Thanks to all who attended our awesome Webinar about making this year your best ever! It was great to chat live, and and I appreciated hearing everyone’s thoughts & insights. It’s a new year! For most of us, this means re-evaluating various aspects of our businesses and our lives, of seeing what’s working, and determining [...]

Join me on Friday, December 10th at 12 noon Eastern (9 a.m. Pacific) for a free Webinar about how to create a strong & profitable Internet presence — for yourself and your business. Twenty years ago, the concept of web presence would have been unintelligible. Today, it’s essential for anyone looking to build a powerful [...]

Of all the tools you have in your marketing arsenal, none are more important than your email list. If you’re really savvy, you maintain multiple lists. For example, for my Voiceover Ninja projects I manage several lists, each pertaining to different geographical areas where I host workshops. To do this professionally, I need a reliable [...]

I’m continually astonished at how many websites commit a very simple error. If a URL consists of multiple words, capitalize the first letter of each word any time the URL is written or printed. Which of the following URL’s “pops” and captures your attention more? www.wealthybohemian.com www.WealthyBohemian.com The first isn’t easy to read. It’s a [...]

(Besides the fact that they’re all known by just one name!) In this third installment of my interview with marketing expert Laura Ries, we talk about what has made these people not just incredibly popular celebrities, but super-powerful brands. Branding is at the heart of every big-time success. The public can only fall in love [...]

In an interview with British tabloid The Daily Mirror, music icon Prince says he believes the Web is dead, and digital music distribution is a thing of the past. “The Internet’s like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They [...]

Do you think of yourself as a brand? You are one, whether you realize it or not! Laura Ries and her father Al Ries help individuals and companies to think like brands. In their books and on Laura’s blog, the Rieses lay out strategies for thinking different, and how to create a strong identity for [...]

Kevin Delaney

Kevin is an actor and voiceover artist in Los Angeles. You've heard him in commercials, in video games such as World of Warcraft and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, cartoons, talking toys, home videos and more! Click here to read more about
Kevin.